Greetings!

It is usually just getting light when the crew begins shuffling around the hotel. Today we had a beautiful sunrise to greet us for breakfast. Yesterday was cloudy and threatening rain. So we have both kinds of blessing. We are on Day Three of our main shooting schedule for "The Enemy God."

I apologize for missing the opening day with an update for you. I have several partially-composed messages! But I believe you are with us in your thoughts and prayers. As with the beginning of every film, life is crazy here. The logistics of building a film production facility, office, sets, communications, and everything else that we need are daunting. Over the past couple of weeks we have completed set construction on our new village set, constructed everything from dining tables for our crew to ramps for the trucks to a bunker to house our generators. We have a laundry lady, cooking helpers, local runners who can contact actors in far-off villages, and a group of about 20 North Americans who are passionate about making this film. And it has all come together. Rehearsals wrapped last week. We had a little opening ceremony on Sunday, including a wonderful encouragement from the Film Commissioner of Belize on behalf of the government. And then we "turned over" cameras Monday morning.

In the midst of all of the stress and chaos, I have to take moments to remind myself that this is the culmination of over four years of prayer and hard work. I can honestly say that I never doubted that we would be making the film, but I certainly have wondered about the walls we have faced. I believe that God promised the Yanomamö of Cosh village that their story would be told. I believe that Matt and I and others came to them to serve that purpose. And even if the road now is not necessarily any easier, I believe that God will continue to get this done, step-by-step.

This is a critical time. Thank you for your prayers and encouragement. I hope you are encouraged by what you see and hear from here.

Thank you for joining with us,

Tom Khazoyan –– Executive Producer, The Enemy God (Yai Wana Naba Laywa) film

We are beginning with the scenes that take place in the 1990's in Venezuela. It rained off and on the first day of shooting, but it was not bad enough to really stall us. The sun seems to want to come and go so we are flexible. If you can remember to pray for clear weather, that would be nice. The main problem with the rain is that the ground never dries out. Even on a sunny day, our crew is covered in mud by the end.

Maybe one of the biggest answers to a lot of prayers is that we have received news that most of the Yanomamö who want to be with us here are finally receiving their documents so they can travel. The systems have been changing so much in Venezuela that they have had a very difficult time in obtaining renewals and new documents. It has literally taken months. They were very discouraged last week, almost ready to just quit and go back home. But we believe that one of them, Timi, will be with us tomorrow, coming with Matt. And then several more will be following soon. That is a huge answer to prayer! This is their story and we have tried everything we can think of and pushed on every door to make it possible for them to be here. We need them to be sittting beside us while we film, coaching the Kekchi actors, and sharing their lives as we make the film together.

? Pray for good communication between ourselves and our actors. Because of the difficulty in communicating with villages that have no phones or postal service, we have already had some mix-ups and people not showing up when expected. This is not really unexpected, but it makes it difficult. We can only adjust so much if someone decides to go fishing instead of acting.

? Pray for us. Our parent organization is still struggling after a merger and major leadership change.